Lari Is Inhabited By The People Of Kanem, Who Are Known By The Name Of Kanimboo; The Women Are Good Looking, Laughing Negresses, And All But Naked; But This They Were Now Used To, And It Excited No Emotions Of Surprise.

Most of them had a square of silver or tin hanging at the back of the head, suspended from the hair, which was brought down in narrow plaits, quite round the neck.

The town of Lari stands on an eminence, and may probably contain two thousand inhabitants. The huts are built of the rush which grows by the side of the lake, have conical tops, and look very like well-thatched stacks of corn in England. They have neat enclosures round them, made with fences of the same reed, and passages leading to them like labyrinths. In the enclosure are a goat or two, poultry, and sometimes a cow. The women were almost always spinning cotton, which grows well, though not abundantly, near the town and the lake. The interior of the huts is neat, they are completely circular, with no admission for air or light, except at the door, which has a mat, hung up by way of safeguard. Major Denham entered one of the best appearance, although the owner gave him no smiles of encouragement, and followed close at his heels, with a spear and dagger in his hand. In one corner stood the bed, a couch of rushes lashed together, and supported by six poles, fixed strongly in the ground.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 411 of 1124
Words from 111974 to 112227 of 309561